•Badi said he did his best as instructed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
•NMS set up an asphalt (bitumen) plant along Kangundo Road which played a key role in the construction and recarpeting of roads.
Image: FILE
After 29 months of work, the Nairobi Metropolitan Service officials have started winding up their last projects in preparation to exit after the polls.
Speaking on Spice FM Thursday morning, NMS boss Lieutenant Mohammed Badi said he did his best as instructed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Unpacking his legacy, Badi said NMS has constructed a total of 28 hospitals with a major focus being in the disadvantaged areas.
“20 of them have already been commissioned and are fully operational while the remaining 8 are in the pipeline,” he added.
Badi revealed that they experienced challenges while constructing these facilities due to the lack of spaces, especially in the informal settlements.
“These are areas which had never had health centres since independence. Some were easy to build because it was county land but in slums, it was hard. We had to build in schools or police stations,” he explained.
President Uhuru who had initially ordered the construction of the hospitals has commissioned 15 of these hospitals to ensure the 3.1 million people living in informal settlements have access to quality and affordable health services with ease.
For the first time, the number of walk-in patients has reduced in Kenyatta National Hospital and Mama Lucy hospitals.
A Level 2 health facility is also known as a dispensary and is run by clinical officers while a Level 3 facility is referred to as a health centre and is run by at least one doctor, clinical officers and nurses.
Image: MAUREEN KINYANJUI
Roads
Going further, Badi said his entity has managed to construct 500 km of roads within the slum areas which are tarmacked.
In 2020, NMS set up an asphalt (bitumen) plant along Kangundo Road which played a key role in the construction and recarpeting of roads.
“NMS has been able to contract China Roads and they are about to complete. We are happy to say that this is one of our successes,” he said.
Nairobi has been relying on asphalt from a plant on Nanyuki Road in the Industrial Area which produces only 150 to 300 tonnes of asphalt a day.
Recreation parks
Using their own contractors, NMS is renovating Uhuru and Central parks into a world-class modern look for recreational purposes
With 80 per cent complete, Badi said President Uhuru might commission the parks but will, however, remain closed until the works are completed.
The parks had been outdated and renovations ought to have been done 20 years ago.
"Most of the children’s playgrounds in the estates have been grabbed and they lack a place where they can play and mingle. Once we complete Uhuru Park, it will be an epic place for families," he added.
NMS has also identified 76.01 acres within Nairobi that will be converted to recreational spaces.
The areas are located in Embakasi East, Kasarani, Kamukunji , Westlands and Kibera sub-counties , including 31.73 acre in Jacaranda Grounds and 7.27 acre in Kamukunji .
A master plan by NMS indicates the new look will involve installing modern facilities and amenities which the parks have been lacking.
With only two years in office, Badi said it was not a difficult task managing the transferred Nairobi functions compared with those ones in the military.
“It was sort of disorganized but remember reaching the level of General in the military means you have done management at a higher level so it’s not a new area for me... Managing the city is just like management in the military,” he said.
Badi had served in the military for 39 years when President Uhuru attended a function at the National Defense College on March 17, 2022, not knowing he will be put in charge the following day.
He explained even as the office is preparing to leave after the elections, he will leave a happy man as he heads back to the military knowing he brought the services closer to people.